“I don’t give two hoots in hell what or who you’re into. Just make sure you deal straight with my friend or things are gonna get ugly for you real fast.”
“It’s kind of sweet that you look out for him that way.”
Barbara smiled at her and got back to the subject at hand. “We’re dropping you two off, and then going to the morgue. I want to see my ex and see if I can figure out what really happened.”
Ace didn’t take his eyes from the road. “You’re not leavin’ the clubhouse until we get this figured out.”
“You’ve only known me a few weeks. We’ve been exclusive for a few days. I guess now is as good a time as ever to break the news.”
“What news is that, sweet cheeks.”
Trying not so smile, she stated flatly, “No matter how long we’re together or how close we get, you do not own my ass.”
“I don’t like it when you throw my own words back in my face.”
“I’m going to do what I should have done in the first place, instead of hiding behind you and the club. I’m going to get off my lazy ass and try to figure out what’s going on.”
“Fine. Me and Ryder will take you wherever you want to go, but you gotta listen to what we say.”
She took a moment to consider it. “Fine. Deal.”
“Wow, you’re a pro at whipping your dude into shape,” Jennifer quipped.
Ace responded without missing a beat. “You’re better suited to Jack than Peb. Jack can’t seem to manage his mouth any better than you can.”
“Forgive me if I’m not wild about taking feedback on my social skills from a dude who can’t conjugate his verbs and uses double negatives.”
Grinning at her in the rearview mirror, Ace teased, “I ain’t got no idea what you’re talking about, girlie.”
They bantered back and forth, and Barbara tried to tune them out in an effort to piece together what might be going on. They went into the clubhouse long enough to settle the students in and have a short conversation with Darkness.
“Intel on your dump site is hard to come by.”
Ace tensed, taking a deep breath. “What exactly have we discovered?”
“Nothing useful. The natives finally responded to our pleas to talk. They pretty much told us they have no idea what in the hell we’re talking about and politely asked us to fuck off. About thirty percent of the people in that area could be described as racist or racist sympathizers, so that doesn’t narrow the pool of possible suspects down by much.
“The farmer uses the same attorney as David’s father, but the law office is huge and they have their fingers in about every pie in the state. Also, there was a hospital admission for a dumb hick by the name of Dwane Jeffery Dixon around the same time as the two guys from the Seven-six were gunned down, but didn’t offer a very convincing explanation for his injuries and called his doctor a ‘commie wetback.’ Just to be clear, his doctor was black.”
“That makes less than no sense.”
Darkness shook his head. “Like I said, we ain’t got shit. We did put two brothers on the student at the hospital, though. He’s in stable condition. I guess we fucked that situation up royally.”
“Hindsight’s always twenty/twenty, brother.”
“Good luck figuring out what happened to David. We’re taking up a collection for his widow.”
Shooting her a quick smile, Ace explained, “No need. I’ve got her nailed down. I’ll be clearing out my stuff from the clubhouse in the next few days.”
Grinning, Darkness grabbed his hand and shook it. “Congratulations, to both of you. You bagged yourself a real nice lady, Ace. Well done.”
Turning to Barbara, his expression turned serious. “Being an old lady ain’t as easy as fallin’ off a log. You seem real nice, but Ace is a brother to me. You treat him right, and he’ll do right by you. I don’t want to see you doing anything to publicly humiliate him, and don’t even think of screwing him over. I ain’t above givin’ a bitch a dirt nap.”
Although she understood it was coming from a place of love, Barbara didn’t appreciate his tone and turned it around on him. “It’s a good thing that I’m no bitch. Just so you know, he might be your brother, but he’s my everything else. I’ll support him and this club for just as long as he wants to ride with you and your crew. If I even get the smallest inkling that you’re doing him wrong, I turn into that bitch you fear me being so much. You need to remember that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
Stroking his chin, Darkness replied, “Well now, that ain’t never happened to me before. Usually the bitches just cringe and promise to do everything I say.”
“I’m sure you’re a nice guy, Darkness, but I am not going to put up with being called a bitch to my face.”